


Hold My Heart (it breaks easy)

by JaggedHearts



Series: Winteriron Collection [6]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Tony Stark, Dark Tony Stark, Dark!Tony, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Phoenix - Freeform, Phoenix Tony Stark, dark bucky barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 06:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaggedHearts/pseuds/JaggedHearts
Summary: Once Tony Stark was caught in Afghanistan, he didn’t stay with the Ten Rings for long before HYDRA came for him.There he changed.Not only physically but also mentally.Or,Tony isn't one of the good guys. Neither is his lover Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier.The Avengers wish to get Bucky back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting something new I'm exited about. My other Phoenix Tony fic got so much positive feedback, so here's another one. Maybe I'll get back into updating regularly with this :)

Tony aroused to awareness when a loud bang resonated through the small cave ‘room’ he was in. He turned his head, managing only a slight movement in his feverish stage. His left arm was burning, burning, burning. The whole thing was infected, and badly. The doctor- Yinsen- hadn’t been able to control the infection. Not that he hadn’t tried.

He was going to lose the damn arm. Tony had enough medical knowledge for that. Yinsen had also told him that it wasn’t salvageable. Tony trusted Yinsen’s assessment. He had saved his life already once.

“Stark,” someone drawled from the door. Tony tried to refocus on them. It was incredibly hard when all he could think about was the pain. He vaguely registered the steps heading his way. “I’ve noticed you’ve come quite costly to me.”

Somehow the words remind him of Obadiah. But this man resembles him as much as a cat resembles a dog. The man was in his thirties, his hair black, dark eyes holding a sinister look.

“You’re quite pleasant like this.”

_Like what, dying?_ Tony thought sarcastically but couldn’t find his voice. Maybe he lost it in screaming from the pain. The fire in his arm was blinding, painful and even more painful.

“See, normally nothing like this would happen. A merge between terrorists and our little organization.” The man grinned, but it quickly dropped from his face. “But you’ve made that all possible, Stark. Aren’t you one lucky son of a bitch?”

Tony wondered how long this man was going to talk about pointless stuff.

“Though, you might not be after we’re done with you.” The man laughed and Tony couldn’t help the bitter thought of, _there it is. The famous villain talk._

He opened his mouth to retort back but couldn’t as consciousness was stolen from him with a prick at his neck.

 

* * *

 

Tony woke up to searing pain. It rang around his shoulder and in his back. He couldn’t feel his left arm at all. The pain in his back though, that was very different from the blinding pain in his shoulder. It felt like something was-

Growing.

Something was growing from his back. The panic arose quickly.

_What had these bastards done to him now?_

“He’s waking up,” someone grunted out roughly near him. “Hit him again.”

He felt a prick again in his neck, though this time he welcomed the darkness that lingered on the edge of his vision.

The third time he woke up, he wasn’t anywhere fun. Tony was strapped to a goddamn metal chair, his arms- arm bound to the hand rests, his mouth had a bite guard in it, and he couldn’t help the fleeting thought of how in any other situation this would be very kinky. He voiced as such to his captors.

It earned him a smack across his face and a rough hand on his throat. “You should learn not to play with us, Stark. It might be the last thing you do.”

But being Tony Stark made him open his mouth to another retort, “this choking thing does not help your non-kink policy.” It wasn’t like he had ever been afraid of death. Not after the care he got from Howard. Or so he made himself believe.

The man wrenched himself away from Tony, heaving with anger. The quick look Tony took around the room did not help at all. There were at least 13 people (monsters) in the room. And that was everyone he could at least see.

“You shall see. With you at a great position here, you’ll make a great difference in the world.” The man spread his hands like that would help Tony see.

“And where is here?” Tony tilted his head towards him.

“HYDRA, Stark. You’re in the very capable hands of HYDRA.” The maniac smile told him all he needed to know about these people, as if his words hadn’t been enough.

Tony couldn’t help the bitter thought, _yet another failure to the list, right Howard?_ Like he alone hadn’t been a failure enough.

“You should thank your father,” the words caused Tony to glance at the man in resentment. Why would he thank Howard for anything? “He found the way to immortality as he was searching for the super soldier serum. Too bad he wasn’t a fan of wings, yes?” the man smirked.

_Wings?_

His confusion must’ve shown as the man smiled and pointed at him, “thankfully you’ll be much more f a fan of them, Phoenix.” He walked towards Tony and stopped on his left. He reached out a hand and stroked. He stroked and suddenly Tony was all too aware of the extra weight on his back, the feel of fingers gliding through something. He turned his head.

On his back were a pair of gorgeous red and gold wings. The gold glittered in the dim light and the red glared menacingly at anything nearby. It wasn’t a hot rod red that Tony loved, but a deep and dark shade that seemed to suck light and give it to the gold to shine brighter. Tony tried to reach, mesmerized, but couldn’t as his right arm was stuck, and there was nothing after his left shoulder. His breathing picked up.

The man grinned and suddenly Tony was snapped back to the situation at hand. “What did you do to me?” He growled out, the words dark and menacing.

“We did it for you.”

_“What I did? What I did was to save your life.”_ Echoed in his head. Yinsen had saved his life once, but was it only so he would end up here?

“We did it, so you could control the world. They deserve to know. Deserve to know how you can take over the world, if you need to.” The man glided his fingers through the silky feathers again. “And you will do what we tell you.”

“No.”

“No?” The man laughed. “It’s not like you’ll have a choice anyway.” His grin turned feral and he nodded to someone. “Thanks to Stane, you’re all ours.”

_Stane?_ Surely Obadiah hadn’t done it. But as he racked his brain for clues, he could see it become a surer thing. The jealous looks, all attempts to encourage Tony’s self-destructive tendencies? It was clear now that he heard confirmation. Stane had betrayed him. He’d always been jealous of the Starks success.

Tony searched for the muscles attached to the wings. They were strong but using them didn’t feel right. Like having lived without a limb for your entire life and then suddenly having it again. He couldn’t grasp the control he desperately needed.

Then there was the electricity.

 

* * *

 

Later he would look back and know that it was the turning point in his life.

It started him on a path he wasn’t sure he would ever get out of.

A path of death and destruction.

And it all started as the villa they’d been holding him in burned to the ground with everyone inside it, alive.

The betrayal of someone was clear in his head, but he couldn’t quite grasp the name.

He’d figure it out.

Right after he figured out his own name.


	2. Chapter 2

_Present_

He snuggled closer to the feel of warmth. He wasn’t aware of what caused it, but the heat and comfort he felt made it almost impossible to wake up.

_(It was a good day)_

A chuckle reached Tony’s ears and he felt a soft smile tug at his lips. He glanced up and met ice blue eyes full of adoration and fondness.

“Mornin’, kitten,” Bucky kissed his forehead and Tony felt his eyes slide shut, lazily. Perhaps he was like a kitten. Tony stretched once Bucky released him. He could feel the tension in his back and glanced at Bucky. He still wasn’t fully comfortable showing his wings in front of people. James was one of the only people who he had less hesitation with.

Bucky tilted his head, as if asking Tony what was stopping him. Without other warnings Tony spread his long wings, the edges almost hitting the walls on his sides. He ruffled the feathers in appreciation of freedom. It was uncomfortable to hold the wings inside his back _(he still couldn’t understand how the wings fit anywhere, there were no physics with them)._

Bucky smiled and reached out, stroking his fingers through them, removing any damaged feathers. The dark red ones had lightened to an almost blood red. They no longer absorbed light, but they didn’t reflect it either. Bucky hummed as he groomed the wings, like he had done a million times.

“Is Winter alright?” Tony muttered in his half-coma state. He had been the first to discover Winter’s existence in Bucky’s head. Bucky would wake up in places unaware how he got there, afraid he was slipping back into HYDRA’s ( _the bastards_ ) control. Then Tony had one conversation with the Winter Soldier and decided they both were his now. Neither objected.

“I am,” Winter informed him as he continued Bucky’s work on his wings. Tony sighed in happiness. IF life would always be like this, it would almost be worth to live. But unfortunately, it wasn’t anything like these quiet moments they had, with Captain America and his band of merry men after his ex-best friend forever.

Tony felt the shift as Bucky came back. The man laid his head on top of the wings. “Do you miss him?” Tony quietly muttered, only after hoping Bucky wouldn’t have heard it. But that was impossible with his enhanced hearing. The hand imbedded in his wings stopped, before continuing the strokes.

“I miss who he used to be,” Bucky softly admitted. “Who he is now? No. I never knew that bitter man who held onto his past so badly. I cannot help him. Not in the way he hopes.”

Tony turned around, glancing and searching Bucky’s eyes for anything else. When he didn’t find anything but sadness, he reached out laying his hand on Bucky’s cheek. Tony brushed his thumb over his cheek bone, causing Bucky’s eyelids to flutter closed.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” Tony repeated the familiar words.

_I love you._

“I won’t abandon you,” Bucky smiled.

_I love you, too._

They stayed there for hours, wrapped around each other. It wasn’t until a large bang resounded through the safe house that they separated and went for their weapons.

 

* * *

 

_Past_

“No, Tony! You do not understand!”

“Enlighten me then!” He spread his arms, exposing his glowing heart.

“This has to stop. You do not understand how you’re destroying things.” Pepper stepped forwards, causing him to step back. Her grief showed on her face. “You’re destroying _yourself._ You’re killing people left and right, making it right by saying they betrayed you. _Where’s the Tony I knew before Afghanistan?_ ”

Tony recoiled like he’d been slapped. Harshly, he growled out, “That Tony is dead.”

Pepper looked ready to cry, but Tony couldn’t find it in him to care. “Is that so? Then this will be the last time we’ll see each other. I won’t be a part of this.”

Tony smirked, a dangerous and feral thing, “I guess so.”

Despite his insides raging bloody murder at the one person he thought would stand by his side abandoning him, he didn’t burn the woman he could’ve loved in another world. A world where his life wasn’t ash and destruction wrapped in a pretty package.

Instead he walked away, destruction eating him out from the inside.

 

* * *

 

_Present_

Tony growled in frustration as he stepped into his metal suit, wings proudly displayed on his back. As the suit closed around him, he flared his wings. Then he was off.

He met Winter on the roof. He could see the Avengers in the distance. On their way to ‘save’ their precious lost little soldier.

The snarl escaped his mouth. Bucky and Winter were his. Not _Rogers’_.

“Ready, Phoenix?” Winter grinned, all tooth and destruction.

“Aren’t I always?” Tony replied.

Together they rose to the air. Tony on his wings and Winter on the repulsors in his boots.

And they flew to battle, like the angel’s of death they were.

 

* * *

 

_Past_

Tony rounded the tube.

Rounded it again, twice.

Deciding it was safe enough, he raised his wings and impaled the glass with the ends. The tube exploded in a beautiful rain of glass.

Using the sharp and deadly bottom feathers of his wings, Tony sliced the top of the tube, disconnecting the electricity and seeping cold. The man fell immediately. Tony reached out with his wings, encasing the man into safety and warmth. Tony felt the tremors and shivers all the way to his heart.

The long-haired brunet opened his eyes and Tony stared right into his icy blue eyes.

“Hey, Soldier. I’ll take care of you now.”

The smile he gave the Winter Soldier was the realest and gentlest so far in his life.

 

* * *

 

_Present_

They landed together, always together.

 Tony swiped at the red head and Rogers with his wings, knocking the blond to the ground, missing Romanoff by a millimeter.

“You will not take him from me!” Tony roared and clipped the Falcon down. He crashed painfully and the sickening crunch followed by a shout of pain only fueled Tony’s mania. His grin turned feral.

“He is NOT some possession!” Rogers yelled back, his voice filled with disdain and anger. Tony snarled as an arrow bounced of his wings.

“I would give James the world!” Tony arose from the ground. He arched his wings as far as they went, making a complicated gesture with his hands, ready to turn them all to ash.

A shout of his name caused him to stop and hastily turn around.

Tony snarled, feral, afraid and mad. Bucky had an arrow embedded in the meat of his leg, he looked half passed out, Hawkeye tying him up.

Tony roared with anger and _soared_ towards them. He was so close when a ring made of orange light surrounded his Bucky and the Hawk. Tony reached, reached, reached, but missed by a single second. He crashed to the ground.

He rose quickly, breathing hard. His wings were pulled close to his body.

“This is the right way of things, Tony.” Rogers said, his voice filled with false remorse. Tony snarled, just about to attack again when the light ring appeared again, Rogers disappearing as it did too.

Tony released a roar of pain and desperation.

It was _fine_.

It was fine that they’d taken his Bucky and Winter.

He’d burn the world while searching for them.

Tony grinned, feral and ready to murder.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback much appreciated! 
> 
> [ **My Tumblr** ](http://www.tumblr.com/blog/jaggedheartstrings)


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